Barclays GC, CFO to resign

Barclays announced Sunday that both general counsel Mark Harding and its financial head, Chris Lucas, will retire, following a tumultuous year in which the London-based bank was rocked by scandal.

The resignations are the latest in a slew of executive departures from the bank. Last year, former CEO Bob Diamond, chairman Marcus Agius and chief operating officer Jerry del Missier resigned following revelations that Barclays traders had manipulated the London interbank offered rate (Libor)—the interest rate at which banks can borrow from other banks—in an effort to turn a profit on their financial positions.

In June 2012, the bank was hit with three major fines for this manipulation: a $200 million penalty from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a $160 million fine from the Department of Justice and a £59.5 million fee courtesy of the U.K. Financial Services Authority.

The company is also under investigation in the U.K. over an investment that Qatar made in the bank in 2008. Lucas is one of four employees involved in that investigation.

Barclays’ Group CEO Antony Jenkins maintained in a statement that Harding and Lucas chose to retire themselves. He also referenced the company’s recent efforts to institute a new “change program” that will improve Barclays’ culture. “Both Chris and Mark feel that now is the right time for them… to pass the baton on in their respective roles to executives who can commit to seeing that program to completion,” Jenkins said.

Before assuming the general counsel role at Barclays in 2003, Harding served as general counsel of UBS’s investment bank and as a partner at Clifford Chance.